There was no point in making a fuss about such things. Finally, someone came out and said something fair. When Prime Minister Li Hao turned around, he saw that it was General Han Baozheng.
Li Hao was so angry that he wanted to vent his anger, but the deputy privy councilor Wang Zhaoyuan kept attacking Li Hao's personal flaws, which made Li Hao feel very uncomfortable. Besides, when the former Shu Dynasty was destroyed, he had a lot of good land and property at home. These were all facts and it was difficult to refute them. Someone came out to smooth things over, so Li Hao went down the stairs and swallowed his anger.
He took the opportunity to divert the focus from his personal problems and said: Your Majesty, you should start with the big picture at the court meeting today and discuss three major issues first. First, how to respond to the Zhou Dynasty's envoys who asked about the crime; second, how to recognize the strength and weakness of Shu and Zhou; only with the first two decisions can we use them as a basis to deploy the general strategy of attack and defense, which is the third.
Before he finished speaking, the eloquent King Zhaoyuan of Sleeping Dragon said: "What is there to discuss about such matters? Your Majesty does not respond to the Zhou Dynasty as the Emperor of Great Shu. Do you want to persuade Your Majesty to give up the title and submit to the Central Plains on behalf of the Zhou Dynasty?" I said that Prime Minister Li is very good at writing a surrender letter.
You son of a bitch, you're talking about the surrender letter again. Li Hao's forehead was full of black lines. Li Hao said angrily: Wang Zhaoyuan, if you don't advise His Majesty to deal with it wisely, if Dashu is captured in the future, none of us will be able to benefit. You don't think about the Dashu court. When your family is destroyed and your wealth is gone, will you feel comfortable
My house is not filled with gold, silver and silk like Prime Minister Li. Wang Zhaoyuan looked cold and mocking.
Li Hao said angrily: What is being discussed in the court is the national affairs, you don't have to dwell on such trivial matters, but you should talk about the major issues in detail.
Wang Zhaoyuan looked calm, bowed to the north and said: "Your Majesty, how can you give up your honorable title? I do not agree.
Emperor Meng Chang, who had been silent for a long time, immediately nodded when he heard the question of the title, and he highly appreciated Wang Zhaoyuan's attitude.
Wang Zhaoyuan continued: "For now, we only need to keep our troops at bay and send envoys to contact the Northern Han and Southern Tang to attack the Zhou Dynasty together while the Zhou Dynasty is attacking Shu.
Li Hao said coldly: Southern Tang has lost its fighting spirit a long time ago, let's not talk about it; if Northern Han would send troops, where would the Northern Han army be when Li Chongjin and Li Jixun started their rebellion? The civil war between Zhou army reached Hedong, but Northern Han still kept its troops in place; now it wants to help Shu Kingdom thousands of miles away, which is really ridiculous.
Wang Zhaoyuan said: "Li Chongjin and others are nothing but rebels. How can Great Shu be compared with local rebels who have raised troops to rebel? Our Great Shu is surrounded by Hanzhong, Bashan, Jianmen, and Wushan in the east. It is surrounded by mountains and rivers, so we can attack when we advance and defend when we retreat. Now the situation is not favorable, so we should rely on mountains and rivers to defend ourselves. If the Central Plains is in turmoil, we should take advantage of the good time to leave Sichuan and establish our capital in the Central Plains. Your Majesty will face north and rule the world."
Meng Chang heard Wang Zhaoyuan's good words and immediately asked: "Does Deputy Envoy Wang think that the Shu army can defend against the attack of the Zhou army?"
Li Hao hurriedly said: Your Majesty, no matter how dangerous the Shu Mountains are, the Later Tang Dynasty once conquered them. Otherwise, how could Your Majesty have established a foundation without military preparations? Even though it is dangerous, you cannot defend it.
Did your majesty ask you? Wang Zhaoyuan looked at Li Hao coldly. Seeing Li Hao shaking his head and sighing, but not daring to refute, Wang Zhaoyuan ignored him and said excitedly, then bowed to the north and said: Your majesty should not worry about whether you can defend it, but worry about when you can establish your rule in the Central Plains.
Oh Meng Chang moved his fat body and said, I would like to hear the details.
Wang Zhaoyuan said: Xingzhou can be defended for one or two months, Hanzhong can be defended for half a year; the mountains and rivers in the north are dangerous, and the Zhou army will definitely not be able to break through quickly. Lizhou can be defended for a year and a half, and Jianzhou can be defended for another year and a half. It will take a long time to break through Dashu in the north. Can they withstand such a long war
Your Majesty, think again, how many years has the Later Tang been established, how many years has the Later Jin been established, how many years has the Later Han been established, and how many years has the Zhou Dynasty been established. In another year or two, it is still unknown whether the Zhou Dynasty will still exist. They will not attack Shu for too long, and they don't have that much patience.
Meng Chang nodded frequently: That makes sense, that makes sense
Wang Zhaoyuan said: "Therefore, Your Majesty does not need to put down your dignity and be humble to the Zhou Dynasty. If they want to fight, we will fight them. This is the current Zhou Dynasty. The emperor is a child, women are in power, the ruler is weak and the ministers are strong. The end is not far away. When Guo Rong was in power, he was aggressive in both civil and military affairs, but Your Majesty was not afraid of him. Why are you afraid of a child now?"
Meng Chang snorted: "My Great Shu has been established for forty years, and the country is peaceful and the people are safe. The north has gone through the Tang, Jin, Han and Zhou dynasties, and the Zhou dynasty was just a banditry that rose and fell quickly, nothing more than that."
When everyone heard what the emperor said, they bowed and said: Your Majesty is wise.
Even Li Hao was unwilling to disobey the emperor again. Li Hao bowed and thought: Although Wang Zhaoyuan is a very annoying person, he is good at guessing the emperor's intentions. Today, he caught the emperor's unwillingness to be a vassal. That's why he was defeated in the debate with him.
Li Hao thought about how Han Baozheng had tried to save face for him, so he said: I recommend Han Baozheng, the envoy of the Northern Court of Xuanhui, as the commander of the vanguard camp, to lead the reinforcements to Hanzhong, to repel the enemy and protect Hanzhong.
Meng Chang immediately said: Approved.
Li Hao turned around and said: "Hou Mao, the defender of Xingzhou, has made great contributions in resisting the Zhou army. He must be talented. When General Han arrives in Hanzhong, he can be used. I really confiscated his money. I haven't even met him."
Han Baozheng said: I am willing to listen to Prime Minister Li. Prime Minister Li, please rest assured. When Emperor Shizong of Zhou was still in power, the Zhou army was very strong, but the Central Plains was in turmoil, and it was a different time. Now the Zhou Dynasty has orphans and widows who can't take care of themselves. They are strong on the outside but weak on the inside, and they still want to bully others. They look down on our Shu army. Wait until I lead the army northward according to the order, and meet the Zhou army to see how they can do.
So Meng Chang ordered a national letter to reply to the Zhou Dynasty's edict, still calling himself the emperor of Great Shu, and made a defense, saying that Shu had no intention of provoking, and denounced the Zhou Dynasty for bullying too much, and the whole country was indignant. There was a lot of irony in his words, like the Zhou Dynasty's monarchs and ministers bursting out of the rich and the villains who succeeded overnight.
When the letter arrived in Tokyo, more than half a month had passed. It was the end of November, the twelfth month of the year, and it was snowing in Tokyo. The snow was falling all over the place, like goose feathers. The palaces and houses in the entire metropolis were covered in snow, which looked very different.
This time, not only Fu Jinzhan was angry, but all the civil and military officials in the court were very dissatisfied; but Xiang Gong's troops had been at war for more than a month and had not even broken through Qingniling. The Zhou Dynasty's monarchs and ministers, who had always believed in the use of force, had nothing to say now.
Fu Jinzhan summoned important military and state officials to discuss matters in front of the emperor. Wang Pu was the first to question the feasibility of this battle. He said: We originally planned to take Hanzhong as the front camp, but Xiang Gong failed to quickly break through the Shu army's defense line. If we delay, the original strategy will be useless; Shu will fully reinforce the north and strengthen the defense. The more Shu troops there are in Hanzhong, the less manpower Xiang Gong's troops will have. This old minister thinks that we can give up this battle first; when the weather warms up next year, we will send another army to attack from the east to disperse the Shu army's strength before we can advance.
Fu Jinzhan's voice behind the curtain asked: "What do you think, Prime Minister Wang and General Guo?"
Because Xiang Gong was recommended by Wang Pu, Wang Pu was a little embarrassed at this time, and turned to look at Guo Shao. Guo Shao was also a little depressed, and after a moment of silence, he said: "What Envoy Wang said is not unreasonable. Now it is the twelfth month, the weather is cold, and the soldiers are trapped in the border of Shu. It is indeed possible to consider a temporary truce and withdraw the army to Guzhen Fengzhou and other places to spend the winter. However
Xiang Gong is at the front and knows all the situations on the ground. The court should not give orders casually from two thousand miles away. I think we can send people to comfort the soldiers at the front and give Xiang Gong a certain degree of autonomy. If he thinks there is a chance to take Qingniling and advance to Xingzhou, then we can continue to use troops; otherwise, we should follow the opinion of the Privy Councilor Wang Gong and withdraw the troops first, and send another large army from the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River to contain the Shu army next year.
Wang Pu was able to accept it after hearing it and nodded, saying: General Guo’s words make sense, we should indeed ask the commander-in-chief’s opinion.
Guo Shaodao: No matter what Xiang Gong plans to do, we can ask him to report in detail the local geography, deployment of troops, etc., so that we can analyze and evaluate the military and political situation of the Shu army.
Fu Jinzhan said: I will do as you said and send a fast horse to Guzhen to convey the order.
Everyone obeyed. Eunuch Yang Shiliang said: "If you have something to report, please report it. If not, please leave." Several people bowed together and said: "I will leave."
Guo Shao hesitated until the end and did not leave the palace. After the ministers left one after another, he followed the eunuch to the study room inside and met Fu Jinzhan alone. As usual, although they met, there were attendants present, and they were not alone.
Fu Jinzhan complained softly: The Lord of Shu has humiliated me many times. There are so few people in this world who can protect me. I am a little disappointed.
Guo Shao advised kindly: The ruler of Shu was impulsive for a moment, and he will eventually suffer. Queen Mother, don't worry, the war to unify Shu has just begun, and sometimes things will not go smoothly. I will definitely let the Queen Mother regain her dignity next year.
However, I think that this matter should not be entirely blamed on Xiang Gong's incompetence. Although the Northwest Garrison troops he led were quite powerful, they were still inferior to the Imperial Guards in terms of equipment and personnel quality; moreover, a tiny detail on the battlefield would affect the outcome. It may be that Xiang Gong happened to meet a talented person in Shu. The terrain there was difficult and dangerous. As long as the deployment was proper, it was indeed easy to defend and difficult to attack. Otherwise, Shu would not have survived for decades through the Jin, Han and Zhou dynasties.
Fu Jinzhan said softly: You are right, we seem to be too impatient. If we make more preparations and attack Shu next year, we will not be unable to take Hanzhong. In the end, it was my decision, and I don't blame you.
Guo Shao hurriedly said: The Empress Dowager always listens to my advice on military affairs. The responsibility for this matter mainly lies with me because I was really anxious at the time. I thought that if we could not continue to expand our territory and establish achievements, our prestige would slowly decline, and this is not a long-term solution.
After he said that, his tone became firm: "We will conquer Shu within next year. Once all preparations are completed, I will ask for your permission to personally lead the imperial army to attack Shu."